Mad for Macarons in May

I have yet to discover the wonders of macarons. There almost seem to be as many variations as cupcakes!

During the month of May I am going to be trying my hand at macarons.

What is a macaron? A macaron is a traditional French pastry traditionally made from egg whites, almond powder (flour, ground almonds) icing sugar and sugar sandwiched together with a buttercream or ganache or even a jam filling. The cookie should have a foot and a thin but crisp shell, but when you eat it, it melts in your mouth. There should be a good ratio of cookie to filling and not be too sweet.

Flavors include:

* almond

* apricot

* blackcurrant

* caramel

* chocolate

* cinnamon

* coffee

* hazelnut

* fig

* lemon

* licorice

* pistachio

* raspberry

* peach

* green tea

* rose

* vanilla

Sound daunting? Don't worry, macarons are an obsession and there are a lot of web sites that provide advice and even pictures on how to make the perfect macaron step by step.

You can't mention macarons without mentioning Pierre Herme. He releases collections of macarons, some of them are one time only. Unfortunately you can only try his collections in Paris. But that doesn't mean we can't create our own Pierre Herme collection.

Come and join me. You have until June 11 to share your favourite macaron recipe(s) or create your own.

There are no restrictions - you can submit past recipes and as many as you like.

Email (minhnieme AT gmail DOT com) your entry with the following information by June 11:
- your name,
- the name of your blog,
- the URL of your blog,
- the name of your macaron recipe,
- the URL of your recipe post, and
-a picture of your macaron(s)

You don't have to have a blog to participate either. Email me (minhnieme AT gmail DOT com) your recipe with a picture.

I'll be giving away the latest issue of Donna Hay magazine and a mystery prize for the most popular macaron recipe.

So let's get mad for macarons in May.